Coming here on boxing day was my first time actually making a purchase at an Atmosphere store.
I've been needing some snowshoes for a while and thought that I would probably just wait until the end of the season to take advantage of an inventory clearance sale or maybe some used rental shoes. Seeing Atmosphere's Boxing Day flyer a few days prior, they seemed to have some good deals and I went to check them out.
My fiancee and decided that our best bet was to head downtown thinking that this location would be easier to get into and less busy than the one in Deerfoot Meadows. We were right. There wasn't any street parking out front but a camera store behind them was closed for the day and had parking available. Once in the store we found it to be pretty manageable as it was busy but not crammed full of people.
While browsing the snowshoe wall a couple of employees asked if we needed help. One employee gave us the rundown of the different types of shoes and asked us what type of trekking we would be doing, gave us some suggestions, then left us to shop. I didn't end up purchasing any of the shoes that had the 50%+ discounts advertised in the flyer but all of the snowshoes were on sale and I got something that was going to suit me properly for what I was doing, which is the most important thing. What's the point in getting a great deal if its on something that isn't the right product?
I hadn't planned on buying poles, but taking a quick look around they had a set that was regular $135 for 60% off. They seemed like they would do the trick and were much nicer than the ones near the sales price so I nabbed that deal.
The only thing I didn't find was a bag for the snowshoes. They only seemed to have one option. I guess a trip to MEC on another day will fix that problem.